PACERS GAMING WINS FIRST ROUND OF THE SWITCH OPEN TOURNAMENT
March 28, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS (March 28, 2024) – Call it “March Madness – NBA 2K Style”. For the second time in seven days, No. 15-seed Pacers Gaming found itself down 0-2 in a best-of-five series to No. 18-seed T-Wolves Gaming and for the second time the Pacers roared back for a dramatic 3-2 comeback series victory in the first series of the bracket round of the NBA 2K League THE SWITCH OPEN Tournament late Thursday evening. Coach Joel Lazu’s Blue & Gold, which captured this event in ’22, will move on to next week’s winner’s bracket and a matchup with Lakers Gaming Wednesday.
Minnesota jumped out to a 1-0 series edge with a 21-16 victory in Game 1. JAYSNAGS (Julio Laboy) led Indiana with 10 points while leading scorer COOKS (Mike Campbell) was held to three points. Newcomer SUBGOATED (Josh Ferreira), acquired Monday in a trade with the T-Wolves, had three points in his Pacers debut against his old team. IGYMO led the T-Wolves with eight points. TUTAK scored 10 points to lead the T-Wolves to a 23-19 win in Game 2 and a 2-0 series advantage. JAYSNAGS once again led Indiana with 10 points, COOKS added six and SUBGOATED contributed three.
With their backs to the wall and facing elimination, the Pacers stormed back with a dominant 22-11 conquest in Game 3 as COOKS got it going with 16 points and two assists. JAYSNAGS added four points, three rebounds and three assists and SUBGOATED scored two. TUTAK led Minnesota with seven points. Game 4 was one for the ages as the Pacers, again facing elimination, saw SUBGOATED nail a three-pointer for the win against a team he was a member of just four days ago to give the Pacers a 21-19 comeback victory. COOKS led the way with 10 points and five assists while SUBGOATED ended the contest with nine points, a rebound and two assists. TUTAK scored 14 in the loss for Minnesota.
Pacers Gaming wasted no time in finishing the dramatic series comeback with another dominant win in Game 5, taking a 21-13 victory and sending the T-Wolves to the loser’s bracket. COOKS was cooking for 16 points and JAYSNAGS netted five. TUTAK led the startled T-Wolves with 11 points.